Karlovita Lecture Series - Dr. Bernd Heinrich

Summary Sentence:The Georgia Tech Honors Program and the College of Sciences present Dr. Bernd Heinrich

Full Summary:"From the Bees to the Birds: Research Adventures", by Dr. Bernd Heinrich

Karlovita Lecture Series

The Georgia Tech Honors Program and the College of Sciences present.....Dr. Bernd Heinrich

"From the Bees to the Birds: Research Adventures"

Starting grad school, Bernd Heinrich (U.
Vermont Professor Emeritus in Biology) had no idea where he was headed, but
after some detours he ended up leaning toward his childhood fascination with
insects and birds. Starting with sphinx moths, which act like hummingbird analogues,
he made a discovery in physiology that turned into a particular engineering
problem. To see how other insects solved it he found out that bees relied also
on behavior, which led him to social bees (he was and still is a beekeeper).
Ravens' behavior at food bonanzas showed something that looked similar in
behavior to bees, but from their natural history, Heinrich knewthey had a
different problem to solve than social bees.

“What was going on was a huge enigma. I
want to talk about how I tried to solve a biological mystery through experiments
with wild birds in the field and tame ones in large aviaries. The main enigma,
which was the start of many more that turned up later, was why theydid not keep rich
food bonanzas a secret. How was it possible that such behavior might be selected for, when,
logically, it would appear that sharing should be selected against?”

Dr. Heinrich is the author of over a dozen
books, the most recent being “The Nesting Season: Cuckoos, Cuckolds, and the
Invention of Monogamy.”